The present invention relates generally to a confectionary product and, more particularly, to frozen confectionary products which can be easily manufactured and delivered, and easily handled by the consumer.
Heretofore a variety of edible food products have been combined with a variety of edible shells, casings or containers which are intended to be consumed simultaneously. In most instances, these edible shells, casings or containers have been fabricated from flour-based products such as pastry shells, etc. While the food within the edible shell can be quite varied, including, hot foods, cold foods and frozen foods, one disadvantage which has become associated with these types of combined products is that the particular food product is not ready for consumption at the time it is purchased. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,457 to Bernal discloses a readily portable food item. However, it must be cooked prior to consumption in order to make it edible, as well as palatable. Moreover, since the food item is not self-sustaining it must be held together by a fastener, such as, a toothpick, to prevent it from coming apart.
Analogous to the teachings of the Bernal patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,082, to Dougan discloses a frozen puff pastry and edible insert combination and process which also must be cooked prior to consumption by the person who desires to eat it.
The manufacture of uncombined edible food items are well known. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,247,567 to Momiyama describes a method of making a rice cracker or senbei. The product which is formed by the disclosed process is essentially a cracker which can be manufactured in a variety of shapes. There is no teaching or suggestion of combining the cracker with an additional food item.
Another type of food item of this nature includes a shell, which oftentimes includes a cavity or pocket adapted to be filled with a supplemental food item. As such, the food item must be combined by the consumer himself, or, alteratively, by the vendor of the food item. In any event, such a food item cannot be purchased, or otherwise obtained in it's combined form. Such an arrangement is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,091 to Van Horne, which describes an edible server essentially comprised of a plurality of consecutively associated edible receptacles.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 2,508,724 to Moffett shows a method of making an edible dish. A compatible food item is to be subsequently introduced into the dish, which i ultimately to be consumed in combination with the edible dish.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,854,224 to Rankin, discloses a waffle which has a body portion consisting of two separate halves and which is adapted to receive foodstuffs therein, so that the waffle and subsequently added foodstuff can be consumed simultaneously.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,850,356 to Parr, discloses an edible ice cream container which is adapted to have ice cream introduced therein and which is intended to be consumed in combination. Similarly, an edible ice cream container is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,637,556 to Denaro.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 1,899,511 to Leaf, discloses an ice cream sandwich consisting of a center portion of ice cream and two separate waffle type wafers which constitute the outer portions.
In light of the foregoing, it is not presently known in the art of combined frozen confections to provide a frozen cylindrical product which can be assembled and delivered to the consumer as a self-supporting item capable of consumption entirely without having the product come apart. Moreover, until now one could not rely on the known art of combined frozen confectionary products to provide such a product easily and cost effectively.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a combined frozen cylindrical confectionary product which is ready for consumption upon purchase.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a combined frozen confectionary product which can be manufactured and delivered as a unitary item.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a combined confectionary product which remains intact while it is being consumed without the aid of any additional device.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a combined frozen confectionary product which is easily and cost effectively produced.